Maryland in The American Revolution - Proprietarial Rule - The Lord Baltimore

The Lord Baltimore

In 1751 Charles Calvert, 5th Baron Baltimore died, and his son Frederick Calvert, 6th Baron Baltimore, aged just 20, inherited from his father the title Baron Baltimore and the Proprietary Governorship of the Province of Maryland. Frederick Calvert wielded immense power in Maryland, which was then a colony of the Kingdom of Great Britain, administered directly by the Calverts. Frederick benefited from an income of around £10,000 a month from taxes and rents, a very large sum at the time. In addition he controlled shares in the Bank of England, and an estate at Woodcote Park, in Surrey.

Calvert's inheritance coincided with a period of rising discontent in Maryland, amid growing demands by the legislative assembly for an end to his family's authoritarian rule. Frederick, however, remained aloof from the colony and never set foot in it in his lifetime. Instead, he spent time in England and on the European continent, particularly in Italy. He also lived for a time in Constantinople, but had to leave after being accused of keeping a private harem. Calvert lived a life of leisure, writing verse and regarding the Province of Maryland as little more than a source of revenue. The colony was ruled through governors appointed by Calvert, such as Horatio Sharpe and Robert Eden. Frederick's frequent travels made him difficult to contact and meant that Maryland was largely ruled without him. His personal life was extremely scandalous by the standards of the time, and this contributed to growing unrest in his colony. Count Maximilian Von Lamberg wrote of his Lordship's travels:

"In 1769 my Lord was travelling with eight women, a physician, and two negroes, which he called his corregidores, who were entrusted with the discipline of his little seraglio. With the aid of his physician he conducted odd experiments on his houris: he fed the plump ones only acid foods and the thin ones milk and broth. He arrived at Vienna with the train I have described; when the chief of police requested him to declare which of the eight ladies was his wife, he replied that he was an Englishman, and that when he was called upon to give an account of his sexual arrangements, if he could not settle the matter with his fists, it was his practice to set out instantly on his travels again."

Frederick died in 1771, by which time relations between Britain and her American colonies were fast deteriorating. In his will, Frederick left his proprietary Palatinate of Maryland to his eldest illegitimate son, Henry Harford, then aged just 13. The colony, perhaps grateful to be rid of Frederick at last, recognized Harford as Calvert's heir. However, the will was challenged by the family of Frederick's sister, Louisa Calvert Browning, who did not recognize Harford's inheritance. Before the case could grind its way through the Court of Chancery, Maryland had become engulfed by the American Revolution and by 1776 was at war with Britain. Henry Harford would ultimately lose almost all his colonial possessions.